Air Force push-up record submitted to Guinness

A total of 918 basic cadets attempted to break the chain push-up record on July 18. Individual push-ups are something the basic cadets of the Class of 2018 are both thoroughly familiar with and well-practiced in at this point, but chain push-ups require a little more coordination. Photo by John Van Winkle

Posted
Tuesday, July 22, 2014 3:51 pm

Danny Summers

The Air Force Academy’s Class of 2018 completed an attempt to break the Guinness world record for the largest chain push-up, today during Basic Cadet Training field day at the U.S. Air Force Academy on July 18.

A total of 918 basic cadets attempted to break the chain push-up record. Individual push-ups are something the basic cadets of the Class of 2018 are both thoroughly familiar with and well-practiced in at this point, but chain push-ups require a little more coordination.

Chain push-ups require each participant to rest his or her ankles and lower legs on the shoulders of the participant behind him or her, creating a human chain where each individual performs the push-up at the same time.

The Air Force Academy will now submit the necessary paperwork to Guinness, along with extensive video and still photo documentation. Guinness world record attempts typically take a few months to verify if and when a record was broken.

Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., set the record in late 2013 when 138 Marines and sailors broke the record for most people chain push-up at one time.

It took almost seven months for the Academy to receive verification after its last successful attempt to shatter a Guinness world record.

This is the second interesting Guinness record Air Force Academy cadets have tried to set. On May 19, 2011, they assembled the largest dodge ball game, with 3,623 cadets participating and pounding each other with 1050 red dodge ball.

But that dodgeball world record has since been broken, when the University of California, Irvine arranged a dodge ball game with 6,084 participants on Sept. 25, 2012.